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LTPNG BUILDS WINDMILLS
Markham river bed heading toward Awan
“When the winds of change blow, some seek shelter, others build windmills” – Chinese Proverb
In the last five years of conducting various workshops for churches and missions organization in the country the CRMF Learning Technologies team have come in contact with different leaders. These are man and woman leaders who have the zeal to make a difference in their area of ministry.
Since the introduction of technology in Papua New Guinea, these leaders we have worked together with have embraced technology for the purpose of equipping their workers for ministry. Most of them have humbled themselves and admitted their lack of skills and the lack of knowledge of the appropriate tools available to be effective in today’s generation.
These are the leaders who have identified the winds of change and have decided to build wind mills! We have also heard about the negative respond for utilizing technology for ministry because of its negative influence of internet pornography and other social problems related to the wrong use of Social Media like Facebook. These would be the leaders taking shelter from the winds of change with the sad fact that opportunities for ministry are passing by.
Pastor Willie preaching at a Youth Camp 2017
As technology for the Church in PNG, the Lord has helped us to work very closely with such leaders who are prepared to build wind mills. This working relationship fits in perfectly with our key Scripture that we often use at the beginning of all our workshops; Ephesians 4:12. for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ. This can be done in many creative ways.
Agape Bible School students and Awan youths playing volleyball and being exposed to the Gospel.
Through these years it has been a good Bible verse to explain the purpose and the vision of the training we desire to deliver. In the context of the Chinese proverb, we thank the Lord for the leadership of CRMF to recognize the “winds of change” and steer the team toward embracing the vision of being the technology for the church thus the delivery of basic computing skills to pastors and ministry leaders. As strong advocates for using technology for ministry, we are grateful for these leaders of the different churches and mission organizations who have opted to integrate the use of technology in their ministry plans, especially with training and equipping of their workers.
This has made our job easier by spending less time to do awareness and more time to adapt courses to meet the specific needs. “Technology for Ministry” is the direct result of working together with churches and ministry leaders who are willing to embrace technology for ministry and CRMF’s ability and competence to offer training as requested.
Lutheran Renewal Church’s Agape Bible College in Mutzin, Markham District was the first attempt by the team for this new training. The goal of TechMin workshop is to have the participants know the state of mobile internet and the options for ministry in the country. This is done by comparing the stats from the global, regional (Asia Pacific) and local level (PNG). With the knowledge of the opportunities available, they learn about the strategies that other countries are using to do ministry and select or adapt some of these strategies for their own ministry environment.
Pastor Saling, staff of Agape Bible on air during FM session.
The major part of this particular segment consists of selecting strategies that could work, collect appropriate apps and resources and trial various strategies to share media developed. The Mini FM Radio station was also demonstrated to give exposure to the participants as another strategy to share information and other resources.
Although it was the team’s trial attempt, the community of Awan, where the Agape Bible College is located did not see this as a trial but an opportunity and an honor to launch the new training. It was indeed a launch because the leaders of Awan community requested that the training be put on hold until a proper “Markham Welcome” was done to recognize the team as special guest to the community and more importantly the new training to be happening in their own community.
Carolyn & Lina at the welcome meal
For the director and founder of Agape Bible College, Pastor Willie, the TechMin training was a very significant event to help his people see the importance of having a Bible college in their community; and as a result attract an organization like CRMF to work together to build up the college.
As facilitators for the first ever TechMin workshop we thank the Lord for Director and staff of Agape Bible College, Awan Community, Bible School students and other participants who took this training. We have learned a lot from this workshop to help us prepare better for the second TechMin with Every Home for Christ.
Yes we are grateful for those leaders who are sensitive to the winds of change so that together we can build windmills to the ultimate goal of equipping the saints for the work of ministry.
FM antena, WhatsApp demo. and Group instructions
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